Re:Lisp is D.O.A. (Score 2, Interesting)

But compared to a language like Ruby or Python, Lisp is an anachronism. No standardization. No standard Unicode, threads. No XML or RSS libs, no web server, no web framework, no GUI tools, just a bunch of incompatible implementations.

This is a very common wish, but there's a fallacy in the first sentence. The implied comparison is between language implementations (Ruby, Python) and a language specification (Common Lisp, Scheme) or a metalanguage idealisation (Lisp). There are plenty of implementations of Lisp and Scheme which have available for them all of the elements on the wishlist: but they are not standard across all implementations of a specification, or all instantiations of the metalanguage.

There is indeed a need for better distribution integration for the various Free lisps out there (of which there are many) for the newcomers not to feel so intimidated by the need to assemble their systems themselves: but the inherently misleading comparison between specification and implementation should not frame the discussion, because those who need the bits and pieces can assemble them.